Still Chippin' Away

Good morning December :)

It's been a while since I have spoke through the ol' "Thai-ary"..
The last couple of months have been blanketed by the journey of creating the album. The bulk of it is completed - meaning, the rhythm section and vocals are finished! Over thanksgiving weekend, Adam (drums!), Paul (bass!), and I spent hours underground with Stew Kirkwood working hard at layin' down the tunes. I'm not sure if I can recall any other time in my life where I had to find a balance between feeling extremely focussed and extremely creative for the amount of hours that I spent in the studio that weekend. It was uplifting having the support of my band members generously dedicating their time towards my songs, knowing that they were doing so because they believe in the music! What a gift...

The century old piano is very charming... and percussive - acting and sounding in the nature of its truest description: a member of the percussion family. The pedal needed some serious WD40.. or SOMETHING to keep it from croaking. Stew spent several hours with tools trying to subdue the "extra" sounds from the piano while I tried my best to keep my foot from pedalling so agressively. In the end, I think it's pretty cool to have a piano making all the sounds that it is capable of

Possibly one of my most favourite aspects of recording is the HEADPHONE MIX!............. Studio headphones with the most AMAZING balance of bass, drums, piano, vocals in my ears is like having an orchestra in your bedroom. Well.. haha no but kinda. It spoiled me though and makes me never want to buy those cheap earbuds again. Music is even more wonderful when it's heard the BEST way!

Anyways, right now the timeline of release is late February/early March - and I will definitely be inviting all "Thai-ary" readers - so I'll be keeping all visitors posted!

December plans are full with Christmas music gigs and wrapping up more recording bits. The journey. The journey. A show I can invite you to: My band and I will be playing at Edmonton's Artery for their seventh ART show - bringing together local artists and musicians for an evening right before Christmas - on Dec. 15th - come one come all!

Anyways, I'm still chippin' away at the album and I'm really looking forward to the end result!! Here's a little shot from the studio - the boys gave me a flower backdrop !!!!!

Love,
JT

p.s. Happy Birthday Dad!!!... I hope you and mum are enjoying a massive and awesome lunch right now... Geeze I love you both SOO much.